OU D3UAR PER ANNUM, INVARIABLY IN ADVANCE.
TOWAJNTDA:
S.iinr&fln fllormrtn, fttarcl) 29, 1836.
Mail's in |iansas.
REMARKS OF
11()X. G. A. GROW,
i,,;n:?. v !?cof I, ISO 6.
•n ? House If ins in * tiie Committee of the Whole on the
, V • th.- I'nion. and having under consideration the
1;-latent V annual message.
Mr. GROW said :
M- Speaker : Rumors of a prospect of ci
vil war; the Territory of Kausas have reach
,,,'l n . and filled the public mind with gloomy
fll ,jtrvheiision. The President in his annual
-age informed us, that " in the Territory of
j; there had been acts prejudicial to good
.- .■r," l ut neglected to tell what those at ts
-, re: and at a later day he informed this
JJ IT special message that there had been
t<, jf ;nlu tc-iinst Luc, which now threaten
• j ace not only of the Territory of Kansas,
it of the Uniou." It becomes the imperative
i; ,?v of Congress, then, to inquire into the cau
. . f this state of things, and devise if possi-
, y-'tie uieans by which to avert so dire aca
li3i'tV.
, o-r, .s being the supreme legislative pow
: r the Territories, giving them their organ
,w. exeftitive and judicial officers, and pre
:!._ r the mode and manner of the exercise
a. their legislative functions, it is our first
;v to that the inhabitants thereof are
the enjoyuieut of all the rights and
... guarantied to American Freemen
r,-where under the protection of the Re
pa- act- which the President regarded as
• •• i: g the peace not only of the Territory
Kaii-ns. but of the Union, are summed up
. . mragrugh of the message :
•- ig.-oolr not constituting the lxxly politic
t. hi tint-, but merely a party of the iahabi
• > - : : t itw. have undertaken to summon a
r; purp >-e of transforming the Territory
- d have formed a constitution, adopted it,
<• t-d a tiovernor and other officers, and a
- v.the to Congress
- i aL'eh he pronounces illegal and of revo
■ S ..r ; ter. Sir, the doing of any or
• a- •- in this enumeration would be no
of just law or constitutional right ;
- :he ; "ii- .or any part of them, of a State
. t . -y have a perfect right peaceably to
. ai any time, and dejiosit their votes
j --on they may please, with such de
•' Tee as they choose to affix : and
: v, or the person so chosen, commit
■ -•r' act against the Government under
i -h-y live, they have violated no law and 1
vx ■■ ..d'e for no offense, a.:y more than
■i i -1 be to assemble ami discuss their
~ -. and petition for their redress. In
i Island, where there was no question as
n-gularity of the existing government —
lit xisted for almost two centuries— a cail
lveution to form a new constitution was
."'.u. . I y jxrst ns • nfcss-'dly not cunstitutins the
; Ir - . and *.a'hout I tc, for the purjose
: tiausfonuiug a charter govenuneut into a
N iO- They formed a constitution, adopted
and under > elected a tioveruor and other
•'•rs, and a Representative to Congress.—
v m 'iiber- of tiie Legislature met, swore to
:* the new constitution, and the oath of
wa- administered to the Governor, and
• •.e tra: -mined to the Legislature.—
x ' ' these acts were considered as ille
•' 'he constituted authorities of Rhode
and no arrests were made till Dorr
. military force to uphold his goveru
!:.* px>ple of Kansas have thus far done on
was done in Rhode Island previous to
u M a to arms. Are acts that are barm
; p* rfonne.l in a State illegal audtrea
■ when performed under like eirctira
• i". a Territory ? It was not thought
- . ' ■ ( wintry in the case of the admission
1 .'in into the Union, where a eouven
' ' ; • pie, called without Luc, accepted
:iti. :is of Congress which had just
: 1 ii} a convention of delegate* as
. under authority of an act of the Le-
Rut. -ir, the undoubted right of the
>f a Territory to call a State eonven
' ' ' any act of the Territorial Legis
1' ..TOSS, for the purpose of trans
-1 ;<>ry into a State, and to elect
officers necessary to administer sueli
'- • - a-eminent, has licen settled not only by
v of the Government, but by the
• -.' ie of its ablest legal officers and
-i- v i! vlvisers of the President Du
ral J.ick-on's administration the Go
■ ' Territory of Arkansas addressed
- i r -oii King instructions for his guid
• ' x ease the people of said Territory should
• > ,'atcs to a convention without a law
i-' c siatare, and organize and put in
a government without authors
i-iress. The Governor informed the
' : ai.'ess otherwise instructed, he
•ound to consider and treat all
. -. ' v .- as idavflL" The Prcsi-
G •ral Jack-on, it seems, had not
_T' r.t principles of popular sov
aid -Led ly the compromise moa-
; s r '-iicd, through his At'orney
i' F Rutler, on the 21st of Scptcni
-swr sf the General Assfmhly of Ar
' .' " :• 1-epn-p—#ofek- ting-mem':-.r
-- " " '••• ' '-tii a #n-;;ii:!;t-u and State eovern
] tber act. citrectlj f-r lud.rectly. to
verameat. Every mich law. er-ii*th*
. -rerser t the Ttarit :v, • uM
- m.-L"
. . " :> Trritory have an undonbt
kv ' a: ' l ' mf t0 a convention, frame
i a State constitution, aud elect ail
ry *o its action as an indepen
... t: -' Rgh it might l>e a question w he
- ... I rm any official act as State
■ • ' e action of Congress, though
. - - -t v ted i aw - c voted for President
a-i ttcd a State into the
- -• the gtate mutt be formed If fore
THE BRADFORD REPORTER.
her admission ; for it is States that are admit
ted, under the third section of the fourth arti
cle of the Constitution, and not Territories.—
I. pon this point, I read from the opinion of
the Attorney General in the Arkausas case :
" This provision implies that the new State shall have
been constituted by the settlemeut of a constitution or
frame of government, and by the appointment or those of
ficial agents which are indispensable to its action as a
State, and especially to its action as a member of the Un
ion, prior to its admission into the Union. In accordance
with this implication, evert' State received into the Union
since the adoption ot the Federal Constitution has been
actually organizd prior to such admission.''
Now, I desire to call particular attention to
the part of this opinion which applies directly
to the people of Kansas : and had it been writ
ten expressly for their case, it could not have
been more applicable. In defining the rights
of the citizens of Arkausas, he says :
. They undoubtedly possess the ordinary privileges and
immunities of citizens of the United States. Among the-e
is the right of the people. " peaceably to assemble and to
petition the Government for the redress of grievances. "~
In the exercise of this right, tlie inhabitants of Arkansas
may peaceably meet together in primary assembly, or in
conventions chosen by such assemblies, for the purpose of
petitioning Congress to abrogate the territorial govern
ment , and to admit them into the Union as an independent
State. The particular form which they mar give to their
petition cannot be material so long as they "confine them
selves to the mere right of petitioning and conduct all
their proceedings in a pea- cable mannci. And as the pow
er of Congress over the whole subject is plenary aud un
limited. they may accept any constitution, however fram
ed, wtiich in their judgment meets the sense of the people
to lie affected by it. 11. therefore, the citizens of Arkansas
thiuk proper to accompany their petition bv a written
constitution, framed and agreed on by their primary as
semblies, or by a convention ot delegates chi-en bv 'such
assemblies, I perceive no legal objection to their power to
do so."
But, it may be said that this doctrine will
not apply to Kansas, for there it is " merely a
part of the inhabitants " who called the con
vention. In all cases the call, in the first in
stance, must be by a part of the people ; for
it would be almost an impossibility to get the
signatures of all the inhabitants of a Teritory.
The call issued for a State convention iu Kau
sas was iu this form :
" To the legal voters <g" Kansas :
" Whereas the territorial government as now constitu
ted for Kausas has proved a failnre—squatter sovereignty
tnJer its workings a miserable delusion, in proof of which
it is only necessary t" refer to our pa-t hi-tory and our
preseut deplorable condition ; our ballot-luxe- have been
taken possession of by -a band of armed men fr un foreign
States ; our people forcibly driven therefrom : persons at
tempted to be foisted upon us a- member- of a so-called
legislature, unacquainted with our wants, and hostile to
our best interests—some of them never residents of our
Territory ; misnamed laws passed, and now attempted to
be enforced by the aid of citizeus of foreign States, of the
most oppressive, tyrannical and insulting character ; the
right of -uffrage taken from us : debarred from the privi
lege of a voice in the election of even tlie nio-t insignifi
cant officers; the right of free speech -tilted ; the muzzling
of the press attempted : And whereas longer forbearsuee
with such oppression and tyranny has ceased to l*> a vir
tue : and whereas the people of this country have hereto
fore exercised the right of changing their form of govern
ment when it became oppressive, and have, at all times,
c <n c led this right t" the people i i thi- and all other Go
vernment- : and whereas a territorial form of government
i- unknown to the Constitution, and i- the mere creature
of nece-sity awaiting the action of the people : and where
as the deLa-ing character ot the slavery v. hich now in
volve- us impels to action, and leaves u., as the only legal
and [teaeeful alternative, the immediate e-ta) li-hment of
a State government: and whereas the organic act fails in
pointing out the course to be adopted ra an emergency like
ours : Therefore, you are reque-ted to meet at your sever
al precincts in said Territory hereinafter mentioned, on
the -d Tuesday of October next, it !eing the ninth day
of said month, and then and there ca-t your ballots for
menders of a convention, to meet at T ;w-ka on the fourth
Tuesday in 0.-tols-r next, to torui a coa-titution. adopt a
bill of rghts for the people of Kansas, and take all i.eed
fui meas .res for organizing a *:!e government j>- nata
tory to the admission of Kan-as into the Union a
State."
Under it all the legal voters of the Territo
ry could participate : and who shall say that
a majority of them did not ? The fact that it
was necessary for the pro-slavery p.rty at a
later day to summon armed men from Missou
ri, i$ almost conclusive evidence that a majori
ty of the people of the Territory are in favor
of the free State movement. But to give va
lidity to the action of the people of a Territo
ry iu any act which they have a right to do.it
is not necessary that they should be unani
mous, any more than it is necessary, in order
to give validity to a law of a State, that every
voter shauld be in favor of it. Majorities,
under our system of government, constitute the
people, and their action rs the action of the
people.
The members of the convention were elected
ut the same time and by alioiit the same vote
as the free State Delegate to Congress, and he
received almost three thousand votes at a time
when there was no occasion for illegal votes.
Judging by the census, and the other elections
held in the Territory, that would be a majori
ty of the legal voters. If the proceedings for
a State convention were participated in by a
party only, how did it happen that the dele
gates did not all hold one sentiment on the all
absorbing question liefore them—that of slave
ry ? Many of the deiecratos in tht conven
tion were never suspected of leiiig Abolition
ists or Free-Soil'*r liefore they went to the
Territory, and some of them were well-known
to the country as earnest advocate-of the Kan
sas-Nebra.ska bill and of all the measures of
this Administration.
But why was it necessary for the people of
Kansas at thi- early day after their organiza
tion as a Territory to call a convention to frame
a State constitution ? What arc the grievances
that they seek in this way to redress ? They
claim that under the act of Congress organiz
in? the Territory they were to have the right
to form and regulate their domestic institutions
in their own way ; bnt, instead of that, a Le
gislature was elected by non-reidcnts. tlie bal
lot-box seized by armed bands of men from
Missouri, and jeaeeable citizens of the Territo
ry were driven by violence from the polls or
shot down in cold blood. *
The President has failed, though devoting
an entire message to Kansas, to give ns any
information as to the mode or manner in which
that election was conducted, bnt seemed more
anxious to discuss questions involved in the
contested of a delegate on this floor, and
to show, if jKsiMe, inconsistencies of eondoct
in one of the officials whom lie bad appointed
to office in that Territory. We are. therefore,
left to rely on the history of thase transactions
as they have reached us through the press and
by private correspondence. But that the elec
tion was a frand. and the Legislature a usur
pation imposed upon the actual settlers of
Kansas, is as well established as that there was
an election held ; for we have no different or
better means of information of the one than of
the other
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY AT TOWANDA, BRADFORD COUNTY, PA., BY E. O'MEARA GOODRICH.
The census of the Territory was taken in
February, and the election was in the following
March By the census there were but about
three thousand legal voters. Yet, at the elec
tion about six thousand votes were polled,
while a large number of residents did not vote',
owing to the threatened violence of the elec
tion ; and every member elected to the Legis
lature at that time, save one, belonged to the
pro-slavery party. Is it to be supposed that,
at a fair electiou in that Territory, but one free
State man would be elected to the Legislature
out of thirty-nine members, and that he should
be in the district furthest removed from Mis
souri ? But passing by the election for mem
bers of the Legislature, I desire to call atten
tion to their official acts, for these are the first
fruits of popular sovereignty, as established by
the repeal of the Missouri compromise. With
out inquiring into the validity of that Legisla
ture ou account of the mode of its electiou, or
by reason of its changing the seat of govern
ment to Shawnee Mission, the legislation itself
is a sufiicieut justification for the free State men
of Kansas to appeal, in the mode they have
adopted, to Congress, to secure to them their
rights and privileges.
This Legislature, imposed upon Kansas bv
non-residents, has disfranchised a large class of
its citizens, and deprived them of the right of
holding offiee, or of practicing as attorney at
law in the courts, by imposing as a condition,
unwarranted oaths to support particular laws
of Congress or of the Lesrisiature, thereby de
stroying freedom of opinion anil the right of
private judgment as to the constitutionality of
the laws of the country, which is the birthright
of an American citizen.
Mr. SMITH, of Yirgina. Quote the acts.
Mr. GROW. That is what I proj>ose to
do. The voter if required must swear, in ad
dition to other things, to sustain the fugitive
slave law before he can vote —an unheard-of
requisition to require a voter anywhere under
our form of government to swear to support j
any particular law as a condition to vote ; for
in most cases the very object of his going to
the polls is to secure the repeal or modification
of such laws as he considers unconstitutional or
unjust. And every person elected or ap|>oi[it
ed to office in the Territory must take the same
oath. To be admitted to practice as attorney ■
in the courts the applicant must swear to "sup-!
port the Constitution of the United States,and j
to support and sustain the provisions of an act !
entitled an act to organize the Territories of
Nebraska and Kansas, and the provisions of
an act commonly known as the fugitive slave
law,' and to which I understand the court has
added all the laws of the Territorial Legis
lature
The Legislature has appointed or provided
for the appointment of au officers uot alrcadv
appointed by the General Government, for
terms of from two to five years, including sher
iff-, constables, justices of the peace, countv
commissioners, and election boards. So that
there is uot an officer in the Territory of Kan
sas to-day, of any kind or description, civil,
military, or judiciai, except the thirteen mem
bers of the council, who hold their offices for
two years, in the selection of which the peo
ple of the Territory have had any voice, nor
can they have under present regulations till the
ftil of The Legislature has prolonged
its own existence by legislative act till the 1-t
of January, 18,>3, so there can be no change in
the laws till after that time. This is the pop
ular sovereignty that leaves the people " per
fectly free to form and regulate their domes
tic institutions in their own way." And under
these circumstances toe people of Kansas are
are assured by the President that " the con
stitutional means of relieving the people of un
just administration and laws by a change uf
public ageuts and by repeal are ample."
But, in addition to invading the right of
private judgment, and of depriving the people
of all voice in the selection of their rulers, the
Legislature lias struck down freedom of speech,
freedom of the press, and the inalienable rights
of men, and enacted into law a despotism as
galling, if not a? odious, ns that of the House
of llapsburg. The rightsof freemen nre tram
pled under foot, while the right to slave pro
perty is shielded and protected by the highest
sanctious of law. The {icnalty for advising or
assisting an apprentice to run awnv from his
master is a fine of not less than S2O, nor
more than $-">UO : but for enticing or carry
ing away a slave, death, or ten years'imprison
ment.
I For harlx>ring or concealing an apprrntirr.
| oue dollar for each day's concealment ; bat fur
harboring or concealing a slave, not less than
live years' imprisoninent at hard labor.
For advising or jiersiuiding an apprentice to
rrbd against or assault ids master, not less
i than £2O. nor more than SSOO : but for adri
' sing or persuading a slave to rebel, DEATH.
Kidnapping a free mail and selling him into
slavery, an offense that should receive the se
verest punishment known to the criminal calen
dar. unless it be for taking life—and I know
'■ mat as that should be excepted ; for what gra
ver offense against the laws of a civilized com
munity could be committed, than to seize a
j peaceable citizen reposing upon its protection,
and place upon him the chain and the manacle,
and then consign him to hoj>elcss bondage—
yet the penalty for snch an offense nudf r the
laws of Kansa< is not to rreeed ten years' im
prisonment ; while death is the penalty for aid
i tug or atsisting in persuading a slave to obtain
1 his freedom.
For decoying and carrying away a child un
; der twelve years of age. in order to detain or
ronrtnl it from its parents, imprisonment not to
exceed five years, or six months in county jail,
or fine of SSOO, at the discretion of the court.
Even the innocence and helplessness of chiid-
I hood finds less protection under the sanction of
these laws than is given to the right of pro
pertv claimed in the sonls and bodies of meu.
A. MEXBER. They do not sell the souls.
Mr. GROW. Can it be separated at the
auction block ? Does it not go with the body
in this world's pilgrimage, till it passes the
dark valley ? Mr. Chairman, I hare contras
ted .some of these laws for the purpose of show
ing what kind of protection is thrown around
*' REGARDLESS OF DESUNCUTtON FROM AXT QUARTER."
the rights of freemeu, compared with that giv
ven to a particular species of property.
General Striiigfellow,in a letter to the Mont
gomery (Ala.) Advertiser, uses this language
as to the character of the laws of the territo
ry in reference to slavery :
" They have now laws more efficient to protect slave
property than any State in the Union. The*o laws have
just taken effect, and have already silenced Abolitionists;
for. in spite of their heretofore boasting, they know they
will be enforced to the very letter and with "the utmost
rigor. Not onlv is it profitable for slaveholders to go to
Kansas, but politically it is all important."
Not content with enacting laws more effi
cient to protect slave property than any State
in the Uniou, they attempt to stifle freedom of
speech and of the press 1y enacting that—
"lf any free- person, by speaking or writing, assert or
maintain that person-, have not the right to hold slaves in
this Territory, or shali introduce into this Territory, print,
publish, write, circulate, or cause to be introduced into
this Territory, written, printed, published, or circulated
in this Territory, any book, paper, magazine, pamphlet,
or circular, containing any denial of the right of person*
to hold slaves in this Territory, such person shall be deem
ed guilty of felony .and punished by imprisonment at hard
labor for a term not less than two vears.
'• Xo person who is conscientiously opposed to holding
slaves, or who does not admit the right to hold slaves in
this Territory, shall sit as a juror on the trial of any pro
secution for any violation of any of the sections of this
act.'
Such are some of the laws of the Territory
of Kansas which the I'resident has announced
must be enforced at the point of the bayouet,
if necessary. The first gun fired by the armies
of the Republic in such a cause would be but
the echo of the British musketry in the streets
of Boston on the Iflth of April, 1775, and its
flash would light a flame that the floods of the
father of waters could not extinguish.
Should a despot of the Old World issue an
edict that ouv of his subjects who should de
clare that he had not a divine right to rule, to
imprison and to kill, should be incarcerated in
the dungeons, and that auy one should be in
competent to try the accused unless he believ
ed in the divine rights of kings, would not an
execration go up from the heart of civilization
deep and bitter as the wailingsof the damned ;
and his name would head the infamous roll of
the worlds Neros, Gesslers, and llaynaus ; vet
in the heart of the Republic American citizens
are to-day required to submit to an enactment
in the form of law wot less odious.
It is to free themselves from such wrongs,
and that they may enjoy the common rights of
American freemen, that the people of Kansas
have peaceably assembled and formed a consti
tution, in order to petition Congress for a re
dress of grievances.
The I'resident informed us, in his special
message, that associations were formed in some
of the States to promote emigration to Kansas,
which " awakened emotions of intense indigna
tion in States near to the Territory of Kansas,
and especially in the adjoining State of Mis
souri.'' \Y liy this iudignation at any effort to
furnish settlers to the Territory, and thus to
j>eople the wilderness ? For the first time in
the history of the country has any effort to fa
cilitate the settlement of new States excited
indignation anywhere. But the prayer of the
patriot and the philanthropist has ever follow
ed the hardy pioneer, as he went forth to sul>-
due the forest and convert the lair of the wild
beast into a home for civilized man.
But the reasou assigned for the special in
dignation of the people of Missouri, is, that
their " domestic peace was the most directly
endangered." Sir. how could the domestic
peace of any section of this ITnion be endanger
ed by building up new States in the wilderness,
and covering its desert waste with the homes
of civilized men ? Though the President fail
ed to give us that information, General Atchi
son has, in a letter to the Atlanta (Georgia)
Examiner, dated Platte City, December 15,
1855 :
•• Ka:i*a* ami M *>ouri have the same latitude, elimr.te,
and soil, and sh u.1.1 have the same institution*. The peace
and prosperity of Ict'i depend upon it. A 'visas fi*t hare
stare insit tattoos, or J/inouri must hare fere institutions—
hence the intere-t the " border ruffians " take in Kansas
affair-.
'• If the settlement of Kansas had beer, left to the laws
which govern emigration, it would have been a slave Ter
ritory as certainly a- Miss -an is a slave State ; but inas
much a* those laws have tieen violated and perverted by
t!e force ot money, and a powerful organization in the
North and Ea-t. it heeo nes the South " to be np and dm
ins." ar>d to -end in a population to counteract the North.
" Let your \ Ming men . one forth to Missouri and Kan
-a*! !-• : llw-ii come i rdl armed, with money enough to
■.upport them IT twelve month*, and determined to SEE
th;-thiijsr "tit! One hundred true men will be an acqui
sition. The more the better. Ido not -ee h>w we are to
avoid civil war; come it will. Twelve months will cot
elap*e before ear—util war of the fiercest kind—will be
upon u.-. We are arming and preparing f>r it. Indeed,
c of the border counties are prepared. We m :-t have
the support of tin s-jutii. Il'r are /igoiing the bailies of
Ike South, fur nu/tW ons are at ttahe. Voti f:i -outli
er n men are now out of the naive of the war. but. if we
fail, it will read'. "ir own door*, perhap* your hearths.
We want uien. armed men. We want motley—not for
our-elve*. b.t t ■ supjewt our fr.eads who inav corae fr ta
a d i-lance."
I* the domestic peace of Missouri emlanger
ed, tlicu, by an effort to make Kansas a free
State? Are the institutions of Missouri and
the South staked ou the issue whether a free
State shall join a slave State on the west ?
Then the only vital question in the politics of
the day is freedom or slavery to Kansas ; for
its destiny is to shape and control that of all
the territory west of it to the Pacific. For,
with slavery established in Kansas, its insti
tutions, as well as those of the South, will be
just as insecure with a free State on its wes
tern border as would be Missouri with Kan
sas free. The moving cause, it seems, then,
for abrogating the restriction on slavery in
this vast territory, once consecrated to free
dom. was to plant upon its virgin soil the in
stitution® of human bondage, so that the do
mestic jieacc of the southern States might not
lie endangered.
The repeal of the Missouri compromise "as.
from its inception, a conspiracy against free
dom. The moving cause that abrogated th:<
time-honorcd restriction was to secure the in
troduction and establishment of slavery, so as
to prevent, if possible, a free State bordering
a slave State on tine west. For but one Ter
ritory was needed for all purposes of fair set
tlement : and such was the form of the hill
first introduced. Vet it was afterwards di
vided without any apparent reason, unless it
was to enable slavery the more easily to make
its conquest.
Why was Kansas intrenched and hemmed
in entirely by the State of M-ssouri, and re
stricted to a small area compared with Ne
braska, with an imaginary line lor its north-
! ern boundary, when the Platte river, a few
miles further north, was the great natural boun
dary that should hare divided the two, if a
division was to be made ? Was it because
that would bring a part of Kansas opposite
lowa, so that freemen could reach the Terri
tory without the necessity of passing through
a slave State ? Why was the clause always
before inserted in every territorial bill since
the formation of the Government, requiring
the laws of the Territory to be the supervi
sion of Congress, omitted in this? Then,
when, the time comes for electing the Legis
lature, which is, of course, to give shape, by
its action, to the institutions of the infant
State, it is secured to slavery by an invasion,
of non-residents, and then follows the legisla
tion to which I have referred : a series of acts,
all pointing, from the first, to the consumma
tion of one object—the lulfillment of the pro
phecy of General Atchison, made in the Seu
ate of the United States, that if the Missouri
compromise was repealed Kansas would be a
slave State. And he has insisted upon that
opinion from that day to this.
In addition to all this, the secretary of the
Territory, who is required by act of Congress
to transmit " one copy of the laws and jour
nals or the Legislative Assembly within thir
ty days after the end of each session, and one
copy of the executive proceedings and official
correspondence semi-annually," Presi
dent, and copies of the laws to the Senate and
House of Representatives, to be deposited in
the libraries of Congress, has neglected entire
ly to send the laws to Congress, or to 'nroish
the President with the executive proceedings.
If so, the President has not transmitted them
to the Senate, to answer to their call for them,
and has not answered a call made by this Ilon-e
more than three weeks since. So I take it
for granted that they have not been furnish
ed by the secretary of the Territory, as requir
ed by law. So, uo information of the doings
of the Territory reaches ns officially till a late
day, and then we are furnished only such part
as the officials choose to give, lint his neg
lect on the part of one of the officials of the
Territory is passed by unnoticed by the Presi
dent, while he removes other officers for alleg
ed dereliction of duty. Now, if the gentleman
from Virginia [Mr. SMITH] wishes it, I will
yield to him.
Mr SMITH, of V irginia. Ido not desire
to interrupt the gentleman at this point ; I
merely made the remark—rather sub rosa thau
otherwise—that I did not undersarid why the
gentleman should complain of the secretary of
the Territory for failing to pat the House and
the country iu possession of the territorial laws
when I found him using those laws and arguing
njion them I thought it was rather unneces
sary fault-findiug.
Mr. GROW. I suppose, then, Mr. Chair
man, that it would not be necessary for the
officials of the Government to do their official
duty becun.se the information they might com
municate could obtained in some other wav.
1 take it for granted that, when the organic
law requires an officer of the Territory to do a
certain duty, you have a right to complain if
lie fails to perforin that duty, even though you
may obtain the information by soine other
means.
But to return from the digression into which
I have been drawn by the gentleman's remark.
It seems, that but one object has actuated
this whole movement, from the inception of
the repeal of the Missouri compromise, and
that has been to supplant free labor and fre*
institutions, in order to establish slavery on the
soil of Kansas.
Why are men brought there face to face
with the bayonet in their hands and deadlv
hostility in their hearts ? Governor Shan
non, in his dispatch to the President, giving
an account of the troubles at Lawreuee, savs :
"Tlii ex itemeot increased aid spread, mt oa'r through
out this whole Territory, but was' worked cp t j the ut
most point of intensity ia the while of the npper portion
of Missouri. Armed men were seen rushhig fr rn a!'
quarters towards Lawrence, some to defend the place and
others to demolish it.''
" Men rush with arms to demolish it !"
From where? The State of Missouri. What
interest has Missouri in enforcing the laws of
Kansas more than the State of Ohio, or Yir
ginia ? General Atchison tells ns : Slave in
stitutions for Kansas or free institutions for
Missouri Slavery in Kansas secures -lavery
forever in Missouri. This is the motive whi> li
brings from Mi.-souri men to preserve law and
order in Kansas. From the description in nn
part of this letter, the " law and order" ti.at
such men wo old preserve is like the protect o >
the wolf WQuld give the lamb. In another
part of the despatch he -ays :
" l fined in the camp al Wakara-a a deep and se;tk-d
feeling of rutrtJity the oppo-:;ie force* in l-nw
reuie. and apparently a fixed determination to utta-k
thi- pi ice and <lemo|i-h it aim the pre*-e*. and take pox
-tes-u n of their arm*.
" To 'we ao order to the Sheriff to dialKtnd hi pi i
md to General* Uit-hard.-0.-i and Stri.-kler todi-band the r
foreee, won Id have r*-i-n to let |o--e thi- large body of
men, who would have been left without control to follow
the wpv Vof t\'ir frrling'. which evidently wa- to cl
tuck and disarm the people of Lnrroa*."
Those ar- the men who gt> forth to enforce '
Jaw and order, and to preserve peace and (jni
et in one of the Territories of the Uuion. — .
They cotne for what ? To dtmoiish a town,
to burn its houses, and drive out its citizen
from their homes at the po'nt of the bayonet. •
Why is Mi>.-ouri fjh'ivc thr 'nf ih<
S- ulfi ; and Itow are h<T institutions at stake
in the issue of slavery or freedom in Kansas '
The capital invested in any one kind of pro
perty lias always a common interest, and is
moved I>y a common motive. T!ic three mil
lion slaves in the South, at an average price
of SSOO each, makes a capital of $1.500,000.
000. Rut, in addition, it is the same interest
that owns the landed and personal
so that the moneyed interest of the South IBH
acts together hy a common sympathy
bly exceeds £4.000,000,000. Whatever, then,
tends to enhanee the market value of the slave
moves this mighty interest with a common im
pulse. A moneyed interest in any country al-.
wave stnigsrles to seize upon its Government,'
and to wield it for its own advantages. Hence j
the innovations on the early and well-estab
lished policy of tJso Government in restrwrtiog
shverv where it had not an actual ex'stence. '
VOT-i. XVI. —NO. 42.
Hence the efforts now making to overtarn the
settled decisions of the courts, and to nation
alise the institution of slavery ander the nw
doctrine, that the Constitution carries it wher
ever its jurisdiction extends unless there be lo
cal law to prevent it.
The Democracy of the country, in the davs
of its glory and triumph, resisted the attempt
of the moneyed interest of the country, invest
cd in bauking, to seize upou this Government
to use it for its owu purposes. They also re
sisted the attempt of the moneyed interest en
gaged in manufacturing to use this Govern
ment for its purposes. And yet here is a nnit
ed, conceutratcd moneyed interest—compared
to which either of those was but as a drop in
the bucket to the ocean—endeavoring to use a
thi3 Government for the promotion of its in
terests and the advancement of its ends. Now,
sir, it is to resist any such attempt, on the
part of the moneyed iuterest invested in slaves,
that the people whom I represent resist all at
tempts to plant slavery in Kansas.
Regarding it, as did the fathers of the Ro
public, as a social and political evil, that re
tards the growth and development of a coun
try by degrading its labor, they believe it to
be the duty of Congress to do in reference to
the Territories what Madison desired it to do
more than a half century ago in reference to
the foreign slave trade. In urging its aboli
tion he says :
" The dlctat--"? of humanity, the principle* of the poop!#
the nation*! solety and happiness, and prudent policy re
quire it of us.
" It is to be hoped that, by expressing a national disap
probation of this trade, we may destroy it. and save onr
selves from reproaches, and our posterity the imbecility
ever attending on a country filled with slaves."'
And here. sir. I desire to read an extract
from a speech of mine iu the last Congress on
the Nebraska bill :
" But it is 3!iid that these Territories ere common pro
perty and that all the citizens of the United State* have
common rights in them ; and that, therefore, no citizen
can he excluded from emigrating to tliern without injus
tice and degradation. No one proposes to exelnde any
person from emigrating and settling on the public domain.
The Territory, it is true, is the • ->miu<ra propertv of the
whole people, hut by the Federal Constitution they agreed
to put it under a supervisory power. That power is Con
gress ; Congress is made a board of direction over thU
trust fund, to use it in sacli way as, in their sound dis
cretion. will he mn-i advantage JUS to the tnst, and will
bet Accomplish the otject of it,-, creation, the promotion
oi the real and permanent interests <-f the country. Who
ever goes into the Territory, therefore, as a settler, must
conform to the " rales anil regulations'' established by
this supervisory board, created by the common consent
and agreement of the whole country, ai d made one of the
articles of compact. No person has any separate, d
tinct individual right that ne can have et apart as his
(dure to use us he pieaae*. any more than can take l w
share of the President's House or of this Capitol, and ap
propriate it to Ids own use. It tan he used oniv in each
way as. in the judgement of Congress, will conduce to the
advan age of the whole.''
If, then, this Government should see that
the Territories are used such wav as best to
promote the'paramount interest of the coun
try, to develop its physical strength and the
mental resources of its people, free labor can
accomplish it better than slave. For slaverr,
wherever it goes, bears a sirocco in front, aud
leaves a desert in the rear. Under slave la
bor, the soil, which is the menus for support
ing the humau race, and was given bv the
Creator for that purpose, is impoverished and
made worthless. It is, then, abandoned, and
virgin soil taken up again to be in the same
way impoverished. And thus is the basis of
national greatness and glory destroyed, and
the energies of a people are palsied by degra
ding its la'xir. Mr Jefferson, in his Notes on
Virginia, has given to the world its influence
oa society :
" With the nv.rais of the people their indjnrv ulso is
dertroved ; f-r in a warm climate no man will labor fur
himself who can ui.ike another labor for him. Thi is so
!r e, that of the pro-pie-ors of slaves a very small pro
portion indeed are ever seen to labor.
" W:th what ese>-nt:i n shouM the statesman be loaded,
who. permitting one h.ilf toe citizen® thus to tramnle on
the right* of the other, trau-f arms into despots, and
these into enemies, destroy® th'- montli of the one part,
and the amor pariUt the other."
I trust, s'r, that Jefferson, born and reared
amid the inSuences of slavery, will not be re
garded as a fanatic for his views of the insti
tution. As for ntyself, I have no sentimental
ities. othir than those which man should ever
feel for the miseries and woes of his race, on
the subject of -lavery as it exists in the States.
If it be a good, those who have it are entitled
to all its blessings ; if an evil, they alone have
to answer for it to their own consciences, to
the public opinion of the world, and to their
God. I would leave it. then, to the people
among whom it exists to devise, in their own
t'me and in their own w ay, the mode and man
ner of it.® removal. That is a problem with
the solution of which I tax not my brain. It
has taxed in vain the wisdom and ingenuity
of some of the wisest and ablest statesmen of
the K -public.
\\ hen. therefore, we find an institution that
once planted among a people they are unable
to devise any means to gi-t rid of, eventhongh
they desire to do o, should we not hesitate
in doing any act by whh-Ji it would be fasten
ed upon a people who have if not. and who
won Id be much better without it ? Would
the people of Kansas, if left to their own free
choice, to-dav choose th° institution of slavery
instead of the free institutions ?
It is said that the object of t!ie bill organiz
ing the Territory was to leave the people to
do as tliey j lease. The people of Kausas to
<io as they please, alien there is not an officer
of the Territory in whoso election they have
hail a \ oiee, and cannot have for fro vears to
coins ! The people of Kansas to do as they
please, when by force you trample down their
bxllot-boxes, and deprive them of the full ex
ercise of the elective franchise ! You have im
' posed on them a [legislature which has enact
ed laws str.kmg down the dearest rights of
freemen : and you call it law and order to sus
t iiti the invasion, and enforce the enactments.
Ami after the people of Kansas have been dis
kpwtchised at the ballot-box. a:. 1 they have
icen deprived of their rights because they ua
| dertake to demand a redress of their grievan
ces at the hands of the only body that can
■; it—the Congress of the I'nited State?
ann?d men are to be called in to shoot tbem
! down. Art the citizens of Kansas competent
to take care of themselves ? If so, why im
port men from other rotates to eaforv* their
la*? * Tbc fact that men arc 'aiportcd to
' execute the law* the I ?gi.-ia!urt is tciclu